Golf shaft



-steel shafted golf clubs.

Patented July '1941 GOLF SHAFT Norman P. `Vickery, Brockton, Mass., assignor to The American Fork & Hoe Company,-Cleve land, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application October 17, 1933,v Serial No. 693,935.

' 12 claims. (o1. 27s-so),

This invention relates to certain improvements relating to shafts of the general type disclosed in my previously filed application filed June' 6, 1933, Serial 'Numbers Mechanical PatentI No. 674,530-

Design Patent Nos. D-48,294, D-48,295, D-48,296..

I have discovered that high whip or a point of maximum flex in a golf club should be located nearer the hands than has been the custom in player to get distance with less effort of swing, as he will more easily feel the weight of the club head and will be more inclined to swing naturally through the ball. .A high whip golf club is one in' which the shaft'besides having the usual flex near the head, will in addition, have another region of pronounced exhigh up near the hands. Theplayer with this added feature in agolf club will huave a shaft with flex-similar to the ex of Y the arm of a baseball pitcher. The added flex in the relatively upper region of the shaft corresponds 'to the elbow action, and the usual flex near the club head corresponds to the wrist action. As a baseball pitcher acquires speed and Y accuracy through the elbow and wrist action, so does a golfer. acquire distance and accuracyy with This will enable the' ing vibration venables Vthe club head to pass through the ball farther and there is less chance for hook or slice spin -being imparted to the ball. Any hooking 'or slicing with a high 4 whip shaft is less pronounced and the players chance of being olf liney is lessened. In adding the high whipv in a golf club, a doubleexing action is presentin the swinging of the club. This' gives the club head a double kick of longer duration as. it passes through the ball wherein. the action of the shaft'is identical to the action of the human arm throwinga ball, and the added y regard to the action of the a high Whip golf club. With this added high,.

whip in a shaft the club head has greater, freedom passing through the ball, and the hands and wrists which often go into sudden state of rigidity will not .as greatly check the speed ofthe club head through the ball-as would -result with a 'shaft lacking high whip. Also, the added flex allows the club 'head to stay against the ball longer during impact, which adds distance and enables the player to "follow through easier.

. The .springing forward of the club in passing through the ball is easily felt and the momentum gained by the club head during the iirst half `of the down swing will not be checked to the same degree as with another type of club. The fact that the Club head stays, against the ball longer means that momentum ball. A y

The ordinary club which has no high whip.

and is `usually rigid (except for the ex near thev head) reacts too quickly as the head meets the ball. There is an acute choppy short club head vibration which takes place too far-'away from the -hands, giving difliculty in controlling the head actionor even sensing it,`unless the golfer is an expert. This short snap at theend of .the

club does not allow the club head along enough,v

flex through the ball and for that reason hook" or "slice spin is apt to l,be'imparted to the ball.

high ex action ofthe shaft governs the low fiexf action so that it takes place at the proper time. The sequence of this double flexing action accelerates the club head in the proper ratio in body and the action of the wrists.

A correct golf swing requires a shifting and pivoting of the body and a rolling and flexing of the wrists'so'tha-tl a double action shaftinsures better co-ordination between the body and the wrists during the swing..

' vI have discovered that because each golf stroke is played differently .it lis not always bestjto locate the point of whip in.` each golfclub at the same relative distance from the club head. In

- playing the different strokes in a 'golf game, itis necessary to stand with the feet closer together in .some cases and wider apart in' others, the shift- 'ing of the body is greater in one stance than in another. Also, the shoulder pivot is more pronounced in the longer strokes. Further the wrists and direction is impartedto the With the high whipmshaft, the long, high exare rolled and exed back fully in some strokes and to va limited degree vin other strokes, thus; for these reasons, it is' necessary to have the flex.- ing points vary in the shafts of different clubs.

Heretoa setof woods or a set of irons' have had shafts substantially the same in all respects.

The shafts in a'set of irons extremely limber or sti do not give thegolfer the degree of perfec- `'tion in each club that ls possible'to get with a variegated vwhipping polnt` set.-A With the midiron the'golfer desires:

a. Distance b. Low trajectory o c. A fair'amount of overspin With a, mashie-niblicl vthe golfer desires: I

g. lI..essdistance b. High-trajectory c. A fair amount of underspin For these reasons, itis necessary to have the exing point in'a mashie-niblic -lower in the shaft a mid-iron. Therefore, the highest point f a major portion of the length, the shaft is made quite whippy, but

these have not achieved any substantial success due to the lack of control by the player in stroking the ball, as the slightest departure from a rhythmically tuned swing, destroys the excellence of the shot. y,

Very whippy shafts, wherein the whippiness extends over a major portion of the length of the shaft, or is repeated in a number of flexible portions repeated at short intervals over` a substantial portion of the length of the shaft generally achieve less efficient results, than do shafts which are relatively quite rigid, in the hands of the ordinary golfer. i

Golf clubs embodying my present invention are distinguished from such prior clubs, particularly in that a considerable portion of the length of the club shaft which is disposed lowermost, i. e. nearest the club head, and supports the same, is made relatively less responsive per unit of length to bending stresses than is a so-called flexing portion which is disposed immediately above said lowermost portion, and mergingly joined to it.

By such a construction during the stroking of a golf ball and particularly following the moment of impact with the ball, during the socalled follow-through portion of the stroke my improved shaft, having the portion of maximum flexing characteristics disposed relatively high i. e. more substantially spacedfrom the club head than is the case in prior clubs causes the club head to. remain in contact with the ball longer than clubs not having such a flexing portion and during all portions of the stroke a greater measure of control is had by the player over the club head than withthe said prior clubs which are very whippy throughout their length especially ifi the lower portions of their length.

In my improved shaft the junction of said flexing portion with the said lower portion is prefer. ably positioned further from the extreme handle end of the shaft, and therefore nearerthe head `end thereof, in clubs having relatively short shafts, than in clubs having longer shafts. In all cases, the junction between said lower less flexible shaft portion and'the flexing portion is spaced a substantial distance, abo-ve the club head. Since the longer driving clubs having heads with less lofted striking faces, almost universally have longer shafts than the shorter driving clubs the application of my improved principle of construction necessarily results in the longer` driving clubs achieving in usea longer radius of bending response than the shorter clubs, and I flndthat this principle applied according to the same rule ofconstruction to all clubs of a set, or individual clubs, achieves/best F playing performance for a club of that length. 4

It is possible to achieve greater response to flexing in such a flexing portion of thek length of a, golf club shaft in a number of different ways, but I preferablyachieve this by reducing the diam'eter of the shaft'in said flexing portion relative to the diameter of the shaft extending between said exing portion and the club head. However, this same result may be achieved, though I believe in a less perfect manner, by making the walls of such flexing portion thinner, where the shaft is of steel tubular construction, 4or in any other suitable manner of increasing the bending response within the limits of the shaft elasticity to laterally directed stresses imposed upon the lower end of the shaft when striking a golf ball.

W'hilein the broader aspects of my invention the portion of the length of the shaft which is more responsive to bending stresses per unit of length, than the said lower portion of the shaft which extends therefrom to the club head, may

extend upwardly vtoward the extreme handle end of the shaft to any desired degree, so long as a substantial portion of the handle end of the shaft is reinforced by the hand grip applied to its exterior, I preferably make the flexing portion relatively short, so as the resilient hinging, flexing, action which isthus accentuated in a shorter shaft portion. Extending such portion upwardly toward the handle end of the shaft may, however, achieve good results. Referring now first to Fig. 1 of the drawing wherein I show a club which for example may be a driving iron and which commonly are made with relatively long shafts, such as 39" in length, as herein illustrated, and of course driving irons have heads, such as that shown at s, in which the striking face is relatively less lofted than is the `case with the heads of any of the other irons, exclusive of course, of the putter. In case of a putter, such a club is not used for striking a ball with any force and therefore the principles of my invention involve very little, if any, advantage in the case of the putter. v

In carrying out the principles of my invention to secure best results the length of the club shaft is a predetermining factor in locating the position of the junction between the portion shown at Z, in Fig. l, which at its lower end carries the club head s, with a more upwardly disposed portion f, termed hereinafter a exing portion. The flexing portion j, is.joined preferably mergingly at a point y', with theK portion l, and if made as illustrated of a substantially reduced diameter relative to the diameter of the portion l, it may be readily found that in the use of a club having such portions l and f of relatively different diameters, thatI the portion i, will respond to bending `stresses to a greater degree per unit of its length than is the case in the portion Z, which is of relativelylarger diameter. y

My invention therefore necessarily involves the placement of such a portion f above, that is more toward the handleend of the shaft, than the portion l, which is less responsive to bending stresses so that in the use of the club as` when striking a ball the portion f, responding to a greater degree to the bending stress than the lower portion l, will effect what I have termed the "highwhip" action, whereby the club head will move relative to said flexing portion, generally arcuately on ajradius which is approximately determined by the positioning of the junction y', longitudinally of the shaft. fr"

I preferably position the junction y', for golf clubs having shafts which Aare less than 40" 'in length, in thefollowing manner:

First I determine the overall length of the .shaft which, as shown in Fig.'1, is 39, then I to limit, to a greater degree,

subtract such length, i. e. 39", from 64", and then the difference i. e. 25" represents a point in the length of the shaft'where the 'junction 7', may

` occur as spaced from the upper or extreme handle ceeds in the upward'directionpn the shaft, in

other words the junction i, may be as previously stated disposed 25" from the end e, or as illus-` trated it may be positioned 21", or at any point distant from the end e,- any amount ranging from 25" to 17". positioning Withinv the optional'range above described and which is 21" from the extreme handle end.

With the foregoing description of Fig. 1, the other figures will be accordingly readily understood as representing various positioning, within the optional range of variation, of the junction 7', for shafts of varying lengths. For instance, in Fig. 7 in which is illustrated one of the shorter shafts of an iro set,- this shaft being 36"` vin length, the positioning of the junction i, may be determined as above stated by subtractingthe over-all length of the shaft, i. e. 36", from 64" 64" being aconstant employed for determining the positioning of i, for all lengths of shaft. 'Ihe difference between 64" and 36", being 23, this value 28 may represent the distance between the junction i, and the extreme handle end e,

of the shaft.` However, in the embodiment illustrated in Fig. 7 the junction is located 27" from the extreme handle end of the shaft and therefore within the permissible range of 8" possible variation in the position i, Awhich permissible variation ranges for the shaft of Fig. 7 from a distance of 28" to a distance of 20 from the extreme handle end of the shaft e. j

With the above detailed descriptionof two of thegures of the-drawing illustrating two different embodiments of my invention and employing two different amounts of permissible optional range of variation, `the positioning of the/junction i, in the case of any club of any` length, within a permissible range of variation, will be" readily understood.

Briefly describing the other embodiments illustrated, Figs. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8' illustrate shafts whichare respectively 38%", 38', 371A", 37", 361/2" and 35%" in total length respectively.

The distances for each' case of the junction j,

from the extreme handle ends of the shafts, in these gures of the drawing are illustrated `respectively as 22", 23", 24", 25", 26 and 28,

respectively. Thus .in every case, within the permissible optional range of variation of 8", the` junction i, is spaced from the extreme handle end of, the shaft, a distance represented by the numerical dierence between 64 and the overall length of each of said shafts. As above stated this numerical difference represents the lower- Fig. 1 illustrates an intermediate tsaid numerical diiference.

from said maximum distance i, as determined .by

In the drawing: p

Figs. 1 through -8, inclusive, illustrate 4the different irons of a set all of 'which embody the principle of my invention. f

The views of 1 to 8 are all in side elevation, and illustrate a complete set of golf clubs employing shafts which are embodiments of my invention in eight different lengths' whichmay v lbe employed in such a set of golf clubs.

In my aforesaid application I have disclosed an improved type of golf club shaft, wherein the shaft is primarily distinguished from tubular golf club shafts, with which I had been previously familiar, in that the shaft is characterized by the provision of a medial region of its length being Aprecise positioning for the said region of reduced diameter, whereby said region vfor shafts of different length is positioned at different distances from the extreme handle end of the shaft to give best results in shafts of any given length.

Although in the preceding description, 4and from the .different figures of drawing relating to shafts of dierent lengths employed-in a set of hinge at such'p'ortion, the distance in inches ofy golf clubs, I have givenspecically different dimensions for the lengths of the upper and lower portions of said shafts.

It will be found that each and every. of the shafts illustrated vand described herein respond in dimensions to the -following single formula, which mayv be consulted for. constructing any shaft of any length disclosed herein to wit:

The iiexing area f, is located a distance D from the uppermost end of the shaft, where D=(60i4) -L, Where D is the distance in inches from the uppermost end of the shaft, and L is the over all length of the shaft in inches.

It is understood that certain deviations may be made in the carrying out-of my inventionas here illustrated and described within the scope of the appended clauses, without departing from or exceeding the spirit of myinvention.

What I claim is:

l. A shaft for golf clubs adapted for the placeportion forming a relatively short portion of its length diametrically constricted on all diameters,-

to provide a substantially `renta/@1y resilient the lower end lof such constricted portion from the hand grip end of said shaft being approximately 64 inches, within a range of further permissible variation of minus 8 inches, minus the total length of the shaft-in inches, the over all length of said shaft being less than 40 inches.

V2. A shaft for golf clubs adapted for the vplacement of a head and a hand grip ony its two opposite ends, said shaft having an intermediate portion forming a relatively short portion of its length diametrically constricted on all diameters, to provide asubstantially resilient hinge at such portion, the distance in inches of the lower end of such portion from the hand grip end of said shaft being approximately 64 inches, within a range of` further permissible variation of minus 8 inches, minus the total length of the shaft in inches, said portion of reduced diameter being intermediately of least diameterv and progressively of greater diameter towards its junction with the other portions of the shaft, the over all length of said shaft being less 3. A shaft for golf clubs adapted forthe placement of a head and a hand grip on its two opposite ends, said shaft being of tubularconstruction substantially throughout and having an intermediate portion forming a relatively short portion of its length constricted on all diameters, to provide a substantially resilient hinge at such portion, the distance in inches of the lower end of such constricted portion from the hand grip end of said shaft being approximately 64 inches, within a range of further permissible variation of minus 8 inches, minus the total length of the shaft in inches, the over all length of said shaft being less than 40 inches.

4. A shaft for golf clubs adapted for the placement of a head and a hand grip on its two opposite ends, said shaft having an intermediate portion forming a relatively short portion of its length formed to provide thereat a substantially relatively resilient hinge at such portion, the distance in inches of the lower end of such portion relative to the hand grip end of said shaft being approximately 64 inches, within a range of fur-A ther permissible variation of minus 8 inches, minus the total length of the shaft in inches,

said hinge portion being intermediately. of least diameter and progressively of .greater diameter until its junction with the other portions of the shaft, said shaft being of tubular steel construction and said hinge portion being the only hingelike portion in the length of the shaft, the over all length of s aid shaft being less than 40 inches.

5. A golf clubshaft of resilient material having ashort portion of its length weakened to increase its response to bending flexure at such portion, the lower end of said portion being spaced from the extreme handle supporting end of the shaft approximately 64 inches, within a range of vfurther permissible variation of minus 8 inches, minus the overall length of the shaft in inches,

and having a shaft portion which is substantially longer than said weakened short portion extending therefrom towards and carrying said head supporting end portion, the overall length of said shaft being less than 40 inches.

u 6. A tubular shaft for golf clubs adapted for r the placement of a head and a hand grip on its two opposite ends, said shaft having an intermediate portion forming a relatively short portion of its length relatively circumferentially constricted to provide a substantially flexible hinge at such portion, the lower end of such portion being spaced from the hand grip and of said shaft approximately 64' inches, within a range of further permissible variation of minus 8 inches, minus the total length of the shaft in inches, the over all length of said shaft being less than 40 inches.

7. A shaft for golf clubs adapted for the placement of a head and a hand grip on its two opposite ends, said shaft having an intermediate portion forming a relatively short portion of its length circumferentially constricted to provide a substantially flexible hinge at such portion, the distance of the lower end of such portion from the hand grip end of said shaft being approximately 64 inches, within a rangeof further permissible variation of minus' inches, minus the total length of the shaft ininches; said portion of constricted circumference being intermediately -of least transverse dimensions and progressively thanl 40 inches.

of greater transverse dimension towards its junction with the other portions of the shaft, the over all length of said shaft being less than 40 inches.

8. A shaft for golf clubs adapted for the placement of a head and a hand grip on its two opposite end portions, said shaft being of metallic tubular generally progressively tapered construction, and having an intermediate portion forming a single relatively short portion of its, length circumferentially constricted to provide thereat a substantially flexible resilient hinging portion, the distance of the lower end of such portion from the hand grip end of said shaft being approximately 64 inches, wit-hin a range of further permissible variation of minus 8 inches, minus the total length of the shaft in inches, said hinge portion being substantially spaced from said head and hand grip supporting shaft ends, the over all length of said shaft being less than 40 inches. l

9. A tubular shaft for golf clubs adapted for the placement of a head and a hand grip on its two opposite ends, said shaft having an intermediate portion forming a relatively short portion of its length circumferentally constricted to provide a substantially flexible hinge at such portion, the distance of the lower end of such portion from the hand grip end of said shaft being approximately 64 inches, within a range of further permissible variation of minus 8 inches, minus the totallength of the shaft in inches, said constricted portion being intermediately more constricted and progressively less constrictedtowards both of its junctions with the other portions of the shaft, said shaft being of tubular steel construction and saidcircumferential constriction being the only .abrupt constriction in the length of the shaft, the over all length of said shaft being less than 40 inches.

10. A shaft for golf clubs adapted for the placement of a head and a hand grip on its two opposite end portions, said shaft being of metallic tubular construction, and provided with a short portion of its length weakened to increase its flexibility in said portion, said short portion comprising a part of the length of said shaft which is spaced from the extreme handle supporting end of the shaft approximately 60 inches minus the over all length of the shaft within a range of plus or minus four inches, the over all length of said shaft being less than 40 inches.

11. A golf club shaft of tubular resilient metallic material adapted to support a striking head at a lower end, and to support a hand grip at an upper end, said shaft having a lower portion terminating in said head supporting end and extending upwardly therefrom a distance constituting a substantial portion of the length of the shaft, and a flexing portion disposed immediately above said lower portion, said flexing portion being so weakened relative to the lower portion with which it is mergingly joined as to relatively increase its response to bending flexure stresses imposed on the entire shaft during manual operation thereof in striking a ball by force manually communicated from the hand grip supporting end, to the head supporting end, the junction of said lower portion with said flexing portion being approximately spaced from the extreme hand grip end of the shaft a distance determined by subtracting the total length of the shaft in niches from sixty-four inches such total shaft length being less than forty inches, and subtracting any part of a. permissible range of d is- 2,259,428 e 5l tance variation ranging` from 0 to inches from the result of the rst mentioned subtraction.

V12. A tubular shaft for golf clubs adapted for placement of a hand grip and'head on its two opposite end portions, said shaft'beng` generally 5 tapered proceeding toward its head supporting end portion, and havingva-portion oi?v relatively abruptly constricted circumference to provide a substantially resilient hinge portion, said hingeportion having less resistance tolateral bending 10.

than the adjacent shaft portion of greater cir` cumference adjacent thereto, said adjacent porftion relatively disposed toward the hand grip portion, and the distance of such hinge portion from the hand grip `end of the shaft being 60 inches, minus the total length of the shaft in l\inches, Within a range of further permissible v variation of plus or minus 4 inches, saidshaft being less than 40 inches in over-all length.

l NORMAN P. VICKERY. 

